Lavar Ball plans to launch a new pro basketball league for high school graduates next summer.
The “Junior Basketball Association” will pay players “up to $10,000 per month,” according to a release from Big Baller Brand, which of course will sponsor the league. The lowest-ranked player will receive $3,000 a month, ESPN reported.
The league has no venues rented and ticket prices have not been set, ESPN reported.
“All nationally ranked high school seniors, whose main goal are to reach the NBA, will be offered an opportunity to join the JBA, turning pro straight out of high school and bypassing the usual college pit stop,” according to a release.
The elder Ball said a recent comment from NCAA President Mark Emmert made after Lavar pulled LiAngelo Ball from UCLA helped spur on the new league.
“Is this a part of someone being part of your university as a student-athlete or is it about using college athletics to prepare yourself to be a pro?” Emmert said. “If it’s the latter, you shouldn’t be there in the first place.”
Said Lavar in the release: “And we agree! For decades, the NCAA has run a business that has exploited thousands of teens, while college institutions, coaches, media conglomerates, and corporate sponsors have all profited from the model.”
Lavar pulled LiAngelo from UCLA and LaMelo Ball from Chino Hills High School and said both players could train for the NBA Draft without school. LiAngelo, 19, is not considered an NBA prospect, while LaMelo, 16, is considered a volume shooter with a better upside.
The two players recently signed with Prienai Birstonas Vytautas in Lithuania and are expected to begin playing in January. They won’t play in their father’s new league, per ESPN.
(Andrew Keh of The New York Times traveled to Lithuania and had an excellent story on how the country is preparing for the arrival of The Balls.)
A similar model, called the AmeriLeague, attempted to target top high school players in 2015, but ended in scandal when it was revealed that founder Cerruti Brown lied about his identity and was actually troubled career criminal Glendon Alexander.
Several of those players then landed in the NBA D-League and elsewhere.
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